The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The amateur Middleton Community Orchestra brings its fifth season to an impressively brassy close
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. He also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The mostly amateur Middleton Community Orchestra (below) finished its fifth season with a concert on Wednesday night that was a kind of brass sandwich—that is, a brass filling between two noisy slices of bread.
The opener was the popular “Carnival” Overture by Antonin Dvorak, the closest this composer ever came to producing a cheap crowd-pleaser.
(I wish that the enterprising conductor Steve Kurr (below), had chosen instead one of the other two overtures in Dvorak’s trilogy of “Nature, Life and Love,” which are much more substantial.)
The orchestra gave the overture a lusty performance, revealing some interesting wind details that one does not often hear.
There were two sandwich fillers.
The first was a concerto for tuba, dating from 2015. The composer, local musician and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music alumnus Pat Doty (below), was also the soloist.
Of its three movements, the first was clearly in the idiom of music for marching band, in which Doty has had long UW experience. The second movement was an attempt at a waltz, while the finale had Latin American odors and featured a prominent part for marimba. What to say? The program bio made the sensible point that Doty’s music “never takes itself too seriously.”
A more substantial score was the other filling, the Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, Op. 91, by Russian late-Romantic Reinhold Glière, also in three movements. (Sadly, the program booklet failed to list the movements for each concerto.)
While this score may not be really great music, it is a splendid, if difficult, vehicle for the soloist.
Another UW-Madison grad, Paul Litterio (below), a player in many area orchestras including both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (and with a sideline in handbells), was the soloist. Playing with perfect technique, an elegant style and just a touch of teasing vibrato, Litterio gave a fascinating demonstration of his instrument in a solo capacity that we do not often hear.
The closing bread for the sandwich was another example of near-vulgar bombast by one of its masters: Tchaikovsky (below). If that was the kind of music to be written, he was the one to do it, and still make you admire him.
The Capriccio Italien, Op. 40, was the composer’s reaction to a visit to Rome. He evoked his neighborhood and, above all, the riotous sounds and songs of a Roman Carnival. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Tchaikovsky’s capacity for making bombast sound like fun creates a really delightful score, and the Middleton players poured all their energies into it.
(An interesting footnote: Tchaikovsky’s other musical product of his visits to Italy is a very different work, the gorgeous string sextet Souvenir de Florence (Memory of Florence), which is less about Italy itself and more a picture of the composer’s homesickness. As it happens, that masterpiece will be played on July 8 by the Willy Street Chamber Players.)
Tags: amateur, American Record Guide, Arts, band, biography, bombast, brass, brass instruments, bread, Capriccio Italien, Carnival Overture, Classical music, concerto, critic, Dvorak, History, Horn, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, July, Latin America, life, Love, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, marching band, marimba, Medieval history, MEMF, Middleton Community Orchestra, movement, nature, noise, Orchestra, Overture, percussion, program notes, Reinhold Gliere, review, sandwich, score, solo, soloist, songs, Souvenir de Florence, style, symphony, Tchaikovsky, technique, trilogy, Tuba, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vibrato, vulgar, Waltz, Willy Street Chamber Players, wind instruments, winds, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Local composer and UW-Madison alumnus Pat Doty talks about his Tuba Concerto, which he will premiere with the Middleton Community Orchestra on Wednesday night.
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The mostly amateur Middleton Community Orchestra (MCO, below), which has gotten better and better and rarely disappoints even in ambitious and difficult music, will wind up its fifth anniversary season this coming Wednesday night with a brass extravaganza.
The performance is at 7:30 p.m. in the modern, comfortable and spacious Middleton Performing Arts Center (below) that is attached to Middleton High School.
Tickets are $10; students get in for FREE.
Advance tickets are available at Willy Street Coop West. The Box office opens at 6:30 p.m. and the doors open at 7 p.m.
The program includes The “Capriccio Italienne” by Peter Tchaikovsky; the Carnival Overture by Antonin Dvorak; the Horn Concerto by Reinhold Glière with soloist Paul Litterio (below); and the world premiere of the Tuba Concerto by University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music graduate Pat Doty, who will also be the soloist.
Steve Kurr (below) will conduct.
Here is a link with more information about the MCO and how to join it and support it:
http://www.middletoncommunityorchestra.org/home
Composer and tuba performer Pat Doty (below, in a photo by Steven Thompson) answered an email Q&A for The Ear:
Can you tell us briefly about your background, including your education and performance history?
I grew up in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. I hold a master’s degree in tuba performance from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where I was a member of the University of Wisconsin Marching Band for four years, including three trips to the Rose Bowl.
While at the UW-Madison, I performed with the Wind Ensemble (including a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City), Concert Band, Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble, the Middleton Community Orchestra, Low Brass Ensemble, 4BA Tuba Quartet, Madrigal Singers and the Lumberjack Brass Quintet.
My solo tuba performance credits range from solo recitals to guest appearances at schools across southern Wisconsin.
When and how did you start composing? What works have you written in the past?
I first started writing music when I was in high school and I was very interested in singer/songwriters like Elton John and Billy Joel. During my time at Mount Horeb High School, I wrote more than 500 songs, most of which never made it past the grand piano in the living room.
When I started graduate school, the tuba studio at UW-Madison was treated to a guest performance by Øystein Baadsvik, who really inspired me to start writing for tuba. I was also heavily influenced by my undergraduate professor, John Stevens (below).
My catalogue now includes dozens of works for solo tuba, chamber ensembles and large ensembles. It probably comes as no surprise that I compose rather frequently for tuba quartet and brass quintet.
Additionally, I write a great deal of music for my wife Brigid, who holds a degree in vocal performance from UW-Madison, to sing with me accompanying her on the piano.(You can hear them in a YouTube video at the bottom in a song by Pat Doty.)
How would you describe your compositional style — tonal or atonal, accessible, melodic and so forth?
My music is tonal, accessible, melodic and so forth. I jest, but I really do strive to write music that is very fun, beautiful and accessible to a wide-ranging audience.
My major influences are not famous classical composers, but rather those musicians who I listened to when I was growing up.
For example, I draw a lot from pop music and classic rock. I know that might seem like an odd connection — pop music and the tuba — but I have always fallen back on my vocal training to instruct my tuba playing, and I see no reason why the same connection shouldn’t exist in my compositions.
To put it simply, I approach writing for solo tuba (with any sort of accompaniment) in quite the same way that I approach writing a song at the piano. I always have a poem, an idea, something in mind that inspires me. For example, my tuba duet “Mendota” is based on a poem that I wrote for a pop song, but it works beautifully for an instrumental piece.
What would you like the public to know about your new Tuba Concerto, which you will perform and premiere with the Middleton Community Orchestra?
First and foremost, my Tuba Concerto doesn’t take itself too seriously. That is a recurring theme in my music. I am very excited for the premiere with the Middleton Community Orchestra, which is sounding great by the way, and I really hope that people have as much fun and find as much joy in listening as I do playing this music.
A couple of interesting quirks to note are that there is a large, essential euphonium part in this piece, and that there is a marimba solo in the third movement. These are both things that, I think it is safe to say, are not particularly common in orchestral music.
I used a euphonium (below) and no tuba in the orchestra because I want this to be a piece that an orchestra could use to feature their own tubist if they so choose. Also, I am friends with quite a few euphonium players.
What else would you like to say?
First, I would like to say thank you to the Middleton Community Orchestra for premiering my Tuba Concerto. I am very much looking forward to the performance for many reasons, not the least of which is that this will be my first chance to present my compositions to a broad classical music audience.
I would also like to mention my new record label, Merp Entertainment, which I co-founded with my wife Brigid last year. Our debut CD “Dare to Entertain” has found national success, particularly on the internet streaming service Spotify, where it has amassed more than 3 million song streams to date.
For more information about this, please visit www.merpentertainment.com. For more information about me, please visit www.patdoty.com.
Tags: accessible, amateur, Arts, Baadevik, Billy Joel, brass, Brass quintet, Capriccio italienne, Carnegie Hall, Carnival Overture, Chamber music, classic rock, Classical music, Compact Disc, compose, composer, concerto, Dvorak, Elton John, Euphonium, Gliere, Horn, John Stevens, Madison, marimba, melodic, melody, Middleton Community Orchestra, Mount Horeb, Music, New York City, Orchestra, Pat Doty, Paul Litterio, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, pop, pop music, Reinhold Gliere, Rock, solo, soloist, song, Steve Kurr, symphony, tonal, tone, Tuba, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: What composer or piece of music would you like to hear once the coronavirus is contained and concert halls open again?
3 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The news can be confusing and even contradictory about some specifics, but the general direction of reports and statistics about the coronavirus pandemic and deaths from COVID-19 is clear.
It is going to be a long haul until we safely get to go hear live music in large crowds again, just as The Ear talked about earlier this week. (Below is a photo of conductor John DeMain and the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Overture Hall.)
Here is a link to that post: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/classical-music-its-clear-to-the-ear-it-will-be-at-least-another-full-year-before-music-lovers-in-the-u-s-can-safely-attend-live-concerts-what-do-you-think/
When performers finally get to play, and the concert halls finally get to open, and audiences finally get to listen in person, here is what The Ear wants to know:
What composer would you like hear?
Maybe Beethoven (below) because so much of the Beethoven Year – marking the composer’s 250th birthday this coming December – has been canceled or postponed?
Maybe Johann Sebastian Bach (below) because he just seems so basic, varied and universal?
And what specific piece of music would you like to hear?
Perhaps Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “Choral” with its “Ode to Joy”? Or maybe the “Eroica” Symphony? Or one of the string quartets?
Perhaps the “St. Mathew Passion” or the Mass in B Minor? Maybe one or more of the cantatas?
Should the music pay homage to the suffering, loss and death – perhaps with Mozart’s “Requiem”? Or Brahms’ “A German Requiem”? Or Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony?
Or should the music be upbeat and joyous, like Dvorak’s “Carnival Overture” (below in the YouTube video)? Or some glittering and whirling waltzes by the Strauss family?
Is there an opera that seems especially relevant?
Would you prefer instrumental, choral or vocal music?
And what period, era or style would you prefer?
It will be great to be reacquainted with old and familiar friends. But it would also seem an ideal time to commission and perform new music.
Leave your suggestions in the Comment section with, if possible, a link to a YouTube performance to help us decide.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Tags: #AGermanRequiem, #AntoninDvorak, #BaroqueMusic, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnivalOverture, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralSymphony, #Classicalera, #CommissionedMusic, #ConcertHall, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #EroicaSymphony, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GustavMahler, #InPerson, #InstrumentalMusic, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohannStrauss, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MassinBMinor, #ModernMusic, #NewMusic, #NewsReports, #NinthSymphony, #OdetoJoy, #OperaMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PublicHealth, #ResurrectionSymphony, #RomanticMusic, #St.MatthewPassion, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, A German Requiem, A German Requiem (Brahms), anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, audience, Bach, Baroque, basic, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birthday, blog, Brahms, cancel, canceled, Carnival Overture, Chamber music, choral, choral music, cinfusing, Classical era, clear, comment, commission, commissioned music, composer, concert hall, conductor, contain, contained, contemporary, contradictory, coronavirus, covid, crowd, death, December, direction, Dvorak, Early music, era, Eroica Symphony, Facebook, familiar, forward, friend, fundamental, gliterring, Gustav Mahler, hear, ideal, in person, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms, joyous, like, link, listen, live music, long haul, loss, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, Mass in B Minor, modern, Mozart, new, New Music, Ninth Symphony, Ode to Joy, old, open, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Hall, pandemic, performers, period, piece, post, posting, postpone, postponed, prefer, Public health, reacquainted, relevant, reports, Requiem, Resurrection, Resurrection Symphony, Romantic, safely, safety, section, share, specific, specifics, St Matthew Passion, statistics, Strauss, String quartet, style, suggestion, syffering, symphony, tag, The Ear, time, universal, upbeat, varied, vocal, vocal music, week, whirling, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube